Just wanted to share a pic of my three Bret Dowell custom knives. Our late friend Roy Finn introduced me to Dowell's knives and since then, I've become a huge fan of his work. Roy loved custom knives and had a tremendous collection any knife collector would envy. Bret Dowell and Rick Menefee were his two favorite knife makers.

From L to R... the first drop point knife with the carbon fiber scales, serrations, and Corby bolts is from an original OT group buy Roy organized. This knife feels sublime in my hand, with its nicely contoured handle, finger groove and serrations. Not seen in the pic, but this knife also has thin red liners that really look great contrasted against the CF and steel of the tang. The second, longer knife with brown micarta scales, mosaic pins, and tooled leather sheath was once owned by Roy. He sold it to me shortly before his death to fund a very nice Dowell fixed blade hunter with Damasteel blade. This knife has extra significance to me not only because it was Roy's, but because Roy had design input into its final form. This knife also features a tapered tang and red liners, not seen in the photo. Finally, the knife on the right is one I recently bought as part of an OT Group Buy in honor of Roy. This one has mesquite burl scales, mosaic pins, serrations, and (also not seen in photo) tapered tang with black liners. I know Roy would have approved. The sheaths of all three were made by Larry Parsons, and all three have CPM154 blades.

I will always cherish these knives for their beauty and fine craftsmanship, but moreover, each for their connection to my friend Roy. I miss you, buddy.

Ted

Money can't buy happiness... but it's much more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than on a bicycle.

I had a brief scare on Thursday. Went to lunch with one of my partner's father, and we went to a Pho restaurant in E. Ft. Worth. I got back to the office, and my Brett Dowell that had been in my pocket was missing! Fortunately, it fell out of my back pocket in the car I was in, so I waded through the Vet's day parade yesterday and retrieved it. Whew!

Although personally I am quite content with existing explosives, I feel we must not stand in the path of improvement. -Winston Churchill

Just recently acquired two more Dowell knives to add to my collection.

This time around, I decided to design my own, and I'm really pleased with the result. Unlike previous Dowell knives, I didn't want to get too "fancy" with these, as I intended them to be hard use big game field dressing & skinning knives. Accordingly, I used the following design criteria:

Relatively short blade length -- short enough, but not too short -- with a drop point for spearing, but not an aggressive drop and with just enough belly for skinning duties, hollow ground.

A handle with very secure grip to maintain control while hands are wet and slippery with blood.

Relatively short overall length for convenient carry while hunting.

No nonsense, tough scale materials that are very impact resistant and cannot soak up blood. No fancy woods, giraffe bone, etc for this project.

The best all-around knife steel for a good compromise between excellent edge retention, reasonably manageable sharpening ease, excellent toughness, and excellent corrosion resistance.

I experimented with different grip profiles until I came up with a shape that fit my hand comfortably and filled my hand for a secure grip. I therefore specified thicker than normal scales and made the grip gradually widen toward the rear to aid in retention. The subtle grip shape is very comfortable, and the knife balances just behind the front finger groove.

I had the blade blanks cut out to final shape on a waterjet machine and sent to Bret. So, for the steel portion of the knife, Bret only had to drill the holes in the handle, add the jimping, hollow grind the blade, heat treat, polish, and sharpen.

The specifics:

- CPM S30V steel, 60-61 Rc hardness.

- 3" blade length, 7.25" overall length.

- Jimping on blade spine for extra slip resistance against thumb.

- Scales are 5/16" thickness over the pins.

- Stainless corby bolts and lanyard tube.

- Larry Parsons leather sheaths.

One of the knives has black linen Micarta scales with red liners. The other has olive drab and black G10 scales with orange liners.

Roy had his "RF Hunter," so here is my "TW Hunter:"

Ted

Money can't buy happiness... but it's much more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than on a bicycle.

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